POSTED ON May 13, 2026

The Powerful Journey From Military to Medical Sales Success

In this episode of the Medical Sales Podcast, Samuel Adeyinka sits down with Jason Brooks to unpack his journey from serving as a Navy hospital corpsman and working alongside Marines in Iraq to building a successful career across surgical devices, capital equipment, genetic testing, and biotech. Jason shares how his early medical training, military leadership experience, and business background helped him break into medical sales with Johnson & Johnson, what it took to navigate the interview process, and how one career changing offer reshaped his future. He also breaks down the differences between selling in the operating room and selling genetic testing into clinics and hospital systems, why reps need to understand stakeholders beyond the physician, and how culture, strategy, and persistence can define long term success in the industry. This episode is a must listen for anyone looking to break into medical sales, transition between specialties, or understand what it really takes to build a meaningful career in the field.

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Transcription:

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
He’s not selling a surgical device to a doctor, you’re selling into the hospital, right? And so what differentialed me is I took everything I learned from J&J and I was like, well, I’m going to figure out who’s the head of this department. I’m going to figure out who’s part of leadership, who the stakeholders are, and who the decision makers are. And then I’m going to move mountains.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, the founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called the Medical Sales Career Builder. And I’m also host of the Medical Sales Podcast.

In this podcast, I interview top medical sales reps and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry, from medical device to pharmaceutical to genetic testing and diagnostic lab. You name it. You will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top 10 percent performer within your role, or climb the corporate ladder.

Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. And remember, I am a medical sales expert sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry and how it can change your life.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Jason Brooks, what’s going on?

Jason Brooks (Guest):
How you doing today?

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Oh man, hey listen, it is a Friday. We made it. I feel like every day that we wake up and we’re breathing, it’s a blessing. How about you? How are things going?

Jason Brooks (Guest):
Good, man. Fantastic.

So many amazing things are happening in the medical sales world and in the Evolve Your Success medical sales world. A lot of good things, and we’re going to get into a lot of these things today.

So let’s tell the audience who you are and what you do.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Yeah, sure.

So I actually started my career in the Navy. I was a hospital corpsman. I did that for five years.

Before I even joined the military, I wanted to go into med school. That was my goal.

And I always kind of tell the joke, I was like 15 years old. I couldn’t commit to a girlfriend, let alone a career, right? And being a doctor is a big commitment. So I was like, let’s test the waters out a little bit.

So that’s how things started. I did that for five years. Ended up working in a hospital for two, ended up working with the Marines for three, traveled the world, ended up in Iraq.

Came back, had two arms, two legs, and I was like, maybe I should evaluate my life decisions. I was like, what did I do to deserve to end up in war when I’m trying to help and save people?

So I took a chance. I took a risk. I went from bio-med to business. There were a lot of reasons how I did that—we can get into that if you want to.

But when I went into business, I went into real estate and mortgage and the subprime industry. And I realized very quickly how unethical that was, and I was like, I made another bad decision. I have to evaluate this again.

Everybody understands the subprime industry back in 2006, 2007, 2008 pretty much brought down the whole economy. And one big reason behind it was adjustable rates.

People were getting into beautiful homes, and then the mortgage might have been $1,600 and it jumped to $10,000, and they couldn’t afford it.

I didn’t want to be part of that.

So I was finishing up my degree. I was going to school at night, working all day, finished a business degree with a concentration in marketing.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
The business degree.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Yeah, the business degree. Business with a concentration in marketing.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
This because you were not sure what to do with the bio-med, or you just wanted to have more versatility?

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
When I came back from Iraq, I was like either I can keep going down this road—I had it all set up.

My medical officers in the Navy with the Marine Corps were writing letters of recommendation. I was set up to get into USUHS, the medical school for the Navy.

Everything was set up.

At that point, I had five years of experience in medical and trauma. I’d been leading 100 to 120 Marines medically. I had corpsmen underneath me.

And for those that don’t know, a corpsman is basically a medic. But your roles and responsibilities are way more than a first responder, because in the military they give you responsibilities we can’t do outside.

I was suturing muscle tissue. First or second year med students aren’t even getting that training.

In Iraq, we were on the front line. There is no other medical support than you and another corpsman. Whatever happens, you’re the first responder, and then you triage to the battalion aid station where the doctors are.

So the training is amazing.

But I didn’t want to stay in the military anymore because I just got back from Iraq. When I joined, I was like Desert Storm just happened—showing my age—but I thought we probably wouldn’t have war for a while. I was wrong.

So I did a degree in business and marketing, and I was trying to figure out how to bring these worlds together.

In careers, you go this way, you pivot, you pivot again, and you’re trying to get to that North Star.

I was like, I know pharma makes good money. At that time, I was making maybe 50 or 60K in mortgage, and I thought pharma could bring business and medical together.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
How did you know that?

Nowadays you can find out what pharma reps make, med device reps, supply reps—everything’s available.

But back then it was more hidden. Where did you learn it?

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Interesting story.

Back then, 2005 to 2006, it was all about going online and finding whatever you could.

I think I was just Googling most lucrative roles in medical outside of being a doctor.

You could be a PA, a nurse practitioner, and I was like if I’m going to go that route, I’m just going to go to med school.

So I was trying to find recruiters that helped veterans, and that led me to a group down in San Diego called Orion International.

They targeted JMOs—junior military officers.

For people who don’t know, there are two main sides of the military: enlisted and officer. Enlisted is straight out of high school. Officers go to college first, then go in as leaders.

I wasn’t an officer, but I had my degree by that point, so I got into their process.

The way it works is a three-day program. Friday and Saturday is basically death by PowerPoint. Companies present who they are, what they’re looking for, what the role is.

Then Sunday you interview directly with hiring managers. There’s no chasing recruiters—you’re face-to-face with decision makers.

I interviewed with seven companies that day. It was heavy.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
We all were.

I think back to when I first started. I had an amazing position with GSK and also got an offer from Team Oval, and I remember the immaturity I had. I just had no idea.

Back then we were flying blind. Now there are companies that can show you every avenue.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
We were flying blind.

Orion was like, “We know you want pharma. What about medical device?”

And I was like, I’m not getting into an industry where I’m selling syringes and cervical needles. I’m not interested.

They were like, no, there are actual surgical devices used in surgery and you’re in there most of the time.

I stopped and was like, there’s a job like that?

So I interviewed with Johnson & Johnson.

I ended up being one of the last candidates for the role, and then they did a background check.

They had to do a driver’s license check, and they asked if I’d had tickets because of company cars and insurance risk.

I had a speeding ticket and a moving violation from about a year and a half ago. It wasn’t that bad, but it came back.

I got a call from the hiring manager, CT Brasil. He said, “I have good news and bad news. We can’t extend your offer.”

My heart sank. I was bought in.

He said, it’s because of the tickets. I thought the timeframe had passed, but he said I had about six months left.

He told me, “We think you’re a great fit. When that six months is up, call me back.”

That was a tough call.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
I can imagine.

But nowadays, a speeding ticket a year and a half ago usually won’t stop an offer. Back then it could.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
It was a hard stop.

Six months later, I called him back. He said I had to go through the whole process again.

I got to the finals again and had to interview with a regional manager, Ken.

Ken was down to earth, and he was military too, so I thought it should go well.

I prepared like crazy. Star format, pages of notes.

I finished the interview and I thought it was terrible. I felt like it didn’t go nearly as well as my others.

It was a Friday and I was heading to Vegas that day—trip already planned.

We’re driving, everyone’s having fun, we’re going up that mountain right before you see Vegas, and my phone rings.

It’s CT. I told my friends, “I have to pull this car over.”

I get out, I’m on the freeway, loud as ever.

CT asks where I am and I said I’m on the freeway like you told me to, pulled over.

He said, “I have one question for you. Do you want to join the team?”

Jason Brooks (Guest):
Come on. Best Vegas trip ever.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Oh my goodness.

I jumped up and clicked my heels like that old Toyota commercial.

That was a pinnacle moment. It changed the trajectory of my life.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
What’s funny is I think about the six months of not getting another speeding ticket. How nerve wracking was that?

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
I was going 45 everywhere.

And at that time, I didn’t even have a car. I had a motorcycle.

When I came to California, I sold my car, the weather was so good, and I thought I’d get a motorcycle. Better gas, more fun.

So I had six months not to get a ticket while riding a motorcycle all the time. Easy to twist the throttle. That was wild.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
That is the story.

Your experience is very cool because you linked up with Johnson & Johnson, surgical devices and capital equipment.

Then later you went into Invitae, and that’s genetic testing, a whole different space.

I want you to lay out for the audience. What’s the difference between surgical device and capital equipment versus genetic testing?

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
There aren’t many people who make that transition.

A lot of people get into med device and stay there, then go into management.

Usually people go pharma, then med device, and med device rarely goes back to pharma unless later in their career when they want something easier.

When I transitioned, the biggest difference was I was used to being in the OR.

I was doing anywhere from three to five cases a day, sometimes more if I had a bunch of quick procedures set up.

And then I covered multiple hospitals—Pomona Valley, San Antonio Community Hospital, St. Jude Medical Center down by Fullerton.

I was waking up at 4:30 a.m., getting to the hospital on time, doing an in-service at 6, starting a case at 7.

Then before Invitae, I worked at a diagnostics company called CombiMatrix in Orange County.

That’s actually where Matt and I met.

We were focused on women’s health and fertility. Fertility was still cool because you were impacting lives in a very powerful way.

That’s where I cut my teeth in genetic testing.

And I went from being in the OR, with a sales team of maybe 100 to 150 nationwide, to not being in the OR anymore and being on a sales team of like 10 people nationwide. Completely different experience.

Jason Brooks (Guest):
And you did Invitae with us, right?

Let me address this: people go pharma to device and stay, but we also see people go pharma to biotech, device to biotech, biotech to device.

Because biotech can be rare disease, nuance patient types, huge impact, and sometimes work life balance.

Invitae sits in that biotech allied space.

You were in med device for four years. You were in Invitae for damn near eight.

Did you like it more? Be honest.

Samuel Adeyinka (Host):
Sure.

Going into biotech is different because you’re going from the OR into office settings.

You might still be in hospitals, but you’re working higher—leadership, implementation, not just the doctor.

I learned a lot at J&J. They taught me: you’re not selling a surgical device to a doctor, you’re selling into the hospital.

And when I got to CombiMatrix, people weren’t selling to hospital systems. They were selling to individual doctors.

What differentialed me was I took everything I learned from J&J and I said, I’m going to find the head of the department, leadership, stakeholders, and decision makers.

And then I’m going to move mountains.

I closed big deals. One was a fertility clinic in the Valley that wasn’t doing business with us. I got them into contract. They were doing 80 to 100K a month with us. Big win.

Another big one was in San Francisco. Reimbursement there paid more, so the same test could pay three times in San Francisco than elsewhere.

I worked a lot in San Francisco and closed Palo Alto Medical Foundation, part of Sutter Health. I worked that deal for a year and a half and closed the whole system.

CombiMatrix got acquired by Invitae, and that’s how we all ended up at Invitae.

To answer your question, Invitae was a special place. A lot of that was culture.

It was support I’d never seen before.

It was like, okay, let’s identify the problem. You don’t know how to solve it? No worries. Let’s all come together and figure it out. We’ll work together.

If you needed time off because you’d been grinding, there was no question.